The mining settlement of Carron Valley in southern Sanus had, from its inception, been a gamble. The area is fairly bleak with little in the way of farm-able lands, instead featuring rocky bluffs, dense forests, whitewater rivers, and huge rocky canyons like the settlement's namesake. What the local area does have, however, is iron -- large supplies of it near the surface and even more below the earth. Prospectors made small fortunes there and mercenaries earned almost as much protecting the town and its many dig sites, even before the excavations uncovered rich Dust veins in the region. Once the Dust began to flow, Carron Valley became a booming outlands hub of raw material commerce.

Two ago, Carron Valley came under attack by a massive wave of Grimm. The defenses held, barely, but something curious happened during the attack which caught the town's defenders by surprise. A lone cargo hauler took off without permission and flew away from the town, and as it left almost a quarter of the attacking Grimm turned and followed it away into the wastelands. The unusual behavior was enough to turn heads, and the town's leaders launched an investigation once everything was secure. The ship belonged to one Tarn Farrus, a known smuggler who'd been under medical observation after passing out in the streets a few days earlier. The clinic he was being kept in was torched as fled, and the recovered bodies of the medical staff there showed signs of violent trauma.

Tarn's ship was found crashed at the edge of a vast pine forest twenty five miles from Carron Valley. Surveys by local pilots and Huntsmen confirm that he has fled into the forest on foot, but his exact whereabouts are unknown. Beacon Academy has been tasked with capturing and questioning Tarn, and they've dispatched Team AGAT -- supported by Doctor Budonoki -- to bring him to justice. Tarn is known to have basic Aura and weapons training but nothing advanced; once found, his capture should be a simple matter. Team AGAT is also tasked with investigating the crashed airship for any clues as to Tarn's whereabouts, the violent shift in his behavior, and why so many Grimm followed him away from the attack on Carron Valley.

An overnight flight in a small kingdom airship certainly wasn't the most appealing start to a mission, to be sure. The cabin which he and the students had made themselves comfortable -- relatively speaking, at least -- was at least more spacious and with better seats than a Bullhead, but one can only sit in place and try unsuccessfully to sleep for so long. Even meditation had proved elusive, and not for lack of trying. There was something about a pressurized cabin, no matter how generously adorned, that chaffed both mind and body after the first few hours... in Budonoki's experience, at least.

Now, as the sun began to rise outside, the pilot called over the intercom that they were thirty minutes from the crash site. Setting out some dried apricot slices, styrofoam cups of tea poured from a heated thermos, and a few other quick breakfast options, the Faunus professor roused whomever had managed to fall asleep. "Nearly there now. Everyone get something in you to keep your energy up, then check your equipment."

Outside the windows the contrast of the landscape could be seen, barren rocky slabs giving way abruptly to a winding wall of towering pines. The rising sun cast everything into deep relief, painting brilliant ambered hues and inky black shadows with the same broad brushstrokes. It honestly looked like a painting... yet, somewhere in all that natural beauty, a suspected murderer with much to answer for was lurking...

Tieren woke from his rough snooze with an unintelligible grumble--which quickly turned into a barely concealed profanity as his arm knocked over something. Which, of course, had to land smack on the top of his head. Add to the fact that said object felt like thirty kilograms of steel, which did not help the throbbing headache he already harboured from the plane trip. Forget what the good doctor said about "checking equipment"--he needed a checkup on his head.

Speaking of the doctor, he was kindly providing in-flight provisions which Tieren was highly grateful for. Anything that soothed the tediousness of the trip was welcome, really. Thanking the doctor with a nod of his head and slowly drinking from the cup of tea, he leant to pick up the object that landed on the floor.

Ah.

No wonder it felt like twenty bricks landing on his head. It was his sword. His overweight, massive slab of metal. That made sense now.

Is the noise a large greatsword makes when hitting the floor of an airship cabin, and it's also the noise that just caused Gavin to jolt awake about an hour after finally getting to sleep. The anxiety had been intense last night, first mission nerves were part of that to be sure, this was at once the culmination of everything he'd been wanting his whole life, and also his goal's very beginning.

That wasn't the only thing though, his new teammates were... imposing. They weren't complete strangers, there'd been brief introductions before the mission so he knew their names at least, but.

Well, Gavin thought that Tieren could probably tear him in half if he tried hard enough, Aoife was noticeably stand-offish, he had no idea how to approach her, and Mae...

Of course the friendliest person on the team, the one he should by all rights be able to get along with, was a Faunus.

They made him uneasy, he'd heard the stories of the White Fang, it was hard not to with the news constantly talking about them, suspected terrorist incident this, increased Grimm sightings that, and occasionally even of the possibility they could be infiltrating the world's Combat Schools and Academies, they had to learn to fight somewhere after all.

He turned to look at Mae briefly as he got out of his seat, then turned away just as fast. He wanted to trust her, he really did, but he just... couldn't.

Unsheathing the blade part of Galatine, he held it up to the window, and admired the white sword's gleam in the morning sun for a moment before taking the sheath and looking over it. As best as he could tell, it was all in working order but he couldn't really test it in here, flamethrowers are a safety hazard.

After fastening his small bag of Dust vials to his belt, and recombining and setting Galatine on his other hip, Gavin made his way to the table, and gave the teacher accompanying them an uneasy but grateful smile as he picked up a pastry and a cup of tea from the table before returning to his seat.

The pastry was demolished in short order, but Gavin opted to clutch the tea to his chest for a while instead of drinking it, and as he sat there he looked over at the professor again.

Dr. Budonoki Sophos, one of a few Faunus who didn't make Gavin feel uneasy. Well, he was right now, but that wasn't by virtue of his heritage leading to unclear intentions. It was hard to dispute the goodwill of the illustrious Surgeon Sage after all. Instead, Gavin was uneasy being in the presence of such a renowned Huntsman, the man was practically a hero and Gavin could tell from Dr.Sophos' poise that he didn't measure up, not yet.

That was okay though, he had time. Turning his attention back to his tea, Gavin stared at the faintly sweet smelling liquid. He didn't like it. He'd had to drink a lot of rather odd tasting herbal teas as he'd grown up, desperate parents will try almost anything to cure an ailing child after all, and while this tea probably wasn't anywhere near as bad it still felt unpleasant to him.

He scrunched his face up, closed his eyes, and chugged it as fast as he could, not really caring about the scalding it was giving his mouth and throat.

Finally, he got back up again, and looked through a window at the landscape beneath them, and as he did, a smile crept onto his face.

Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, Aoife let out an unwomanly groan as she got to her feet. She hadn't been doing much in the way of sleeping during the night, her unfamiliarity with heights playing with her nerves just enough to keep any slips into slumber short and not at all sweet. For the last hour, Aoife had been bouncing between artists on her scroll without any sort of coherent pattern, the music audible to anyone sitting close to her. It was a nice surprise that she was able to even make use of the headphones, but a flight across the continent had some benefits, it seemed.

Snorting as she made her way past Tieren and his brand new headache, Aoife grabbed one of the cups of tea Sophos had left out for them and downed it immediately, gasping as the liquid travelled its scalding path through her body. "Oh that'll wake a person up alright. Nice choice Doc", she exclaimed while walking back to her seat and grabbing her rifle. Settling down, Aoife began performing the last minute checks on her gun, making certain the red dot sight was still working properly and that there weren't any issues with the trigger and safety. Her revolver wouldn't need any checks, she'd completely dismantled and cleaned it the day before, and Aoife knew it was in perfect condition.

Checking her equipment, though, gave her another opportunity to look over her new team. Mae seemed nice, almost suffocatingly so, reminding Aoife of a stereotypical best friend that you'd find on some TV show. Gavin, too, had given the opinion of being a nice guy, even if she'd given him a bit of a cold shoulder before. Sue her, she was tired, everyone knows you become ruder when you were tired, it was scientific fact.

Tieren seemed less of a sweetheart than the others, but that may have just been the situation at hand. He had to have something going for him if he'd been made team leader, after all, so Aoife, deciding to give the whole nice thing a go, threw him a bone. Well, a bone by her standards anyway.

Mae was awoken by the loud clang of Tieren's sword colliding with his head, making her laugh as soon as she realized what had happened. She stretched out her arms and legs, cracking some of her joints and her neck to help wake herself up. After that, the Faunus decided to check over her weapons and gear to make sure everything was in working order and that she had packed all of her things. These included her crossbow, her small hunting blade, her ammunition canisters, and her small bag of minor first aid supplies.

After loading her normal crossbow bolts into her weapon and turning on its safety, the girl sat quietly, looking around at her team and the professor as they approached their destination.

The old surgeon winced somewhat as Tieren's sword struck the sleeping student -- not how he would have preferred to wake any of his charges, but at least the boy seemed alright. He sipped at his tea as the others came to, nodding with a smile as Aoife complimented his tea... at least, he thought it was a compliment? Still, the important part was that all were now up and looking ready. Quickly finishing his tea, Budonoki stood and began getting himself ready.

"A quick refresher. Tarn Farrus is a known criminal and murderer, capable enough with weaponry and able to generate an Aura -- still, capturing him should be a simple task for four such as you. Our goal is to bring him in alive, to answer questions and face due justice. Our first step will be to check the crash of his airship for clues regarding both Tarn's whereabouts and why so many Grimm followed him away from the recent battle at Carron Valley. Be mindful, those same Grimm are certain to be about as we traverse the woods. I will guide you as best I can, but be ready at any moment to defend yourselves."

Swiftly cleaning up what remained of breakfast, Budonoki was just in time to see the the crash site come into view out the side windows. The cargo ship had come down hard and left quite the trail of debris and upturned earth, having lost both main wings and a stabilizer before coming to a stop. The cabin, at least, seemed relatively intact -- what's more, there were cargo crates strewn about nearby... and curious scorch marks on the ground. The doctor's eyes narrowed. Dust discharges? If they were recent, it could mean that Tarn was scavenging his ship. He could be nearby.

As they came in low, dark shapes began to move at the edge of the treeline. They were hard to make out, but under the circumstances they could only be one thing. "Grimm! Make ready -- we fight for control of the crash site." He made his way to the airship's loading doors and threw a prominent lever -- at once a siren began to sound and the doors slid open with a rush of air.

"The name's Augus, not Argus," Tieren growled, hefting the massive piece of equipment off the floor with his right hand. The blasted thing seemed fine--it'd taken much heftier hits than his head before--but he couldn't check the hinging mechanism in the small cockpit. Most likely decapitate someone if he wasn't paying attention when it swung wide open.

Doing his checkup late meant most of what the doctor said flew over his head, but Tieren's brain worked enough to catch the important parts, namely "Grimm" and "Defend yourselves". Enough for him to look out of the window and see the wreckage of what must have been this Tarn fellow's ship. If there were crates of Dust inside, it was surprising that the thing didn't go up in a mushroom cloud of kaboom.

Jostled about by the wind buffeting everyone in the cabin, Tieren turned to the three members in his team. Names he knew, weapons he was getting to know, but personalities didn't matter in this fight. All he needed was support. "Stay up here and shoot down, or join me on the floor. Up to you." he said simply, before turning to barrel through the door and falling from the airship. Midfall he extended his sword to full length and braced his shield with both arms, landing on the floor shield-first, creating a small dent in the ground and a shockwave that pushed any Grimm nearby away. Ow...I'm surprised my arms didn't instantly break.

(OOC: Think Yang's punch in Yellow Trailer. Also, don't sweat it Riv--we all have IRL to deal with )

After listening intently to the Professor's briefing for the mission, Mae looked out the window to see the crashed ship and the trail of upturned earth it left as it crashed. She winced a little to think what must've happened to the people on board and to the surrounding wildlife, quickly brought back to reality by the sound of the door siren.

As Tieren suggested the two plans of attack, Mae decided that she'd be better off on the ship, immediately getting into her teammate's spot after he jumped out, turning the safety off before raining down most of her normal bolts upon the stunned Beowolves.